Yes! The Great Air Fryer Breakfast Test
If you have an Air Fryer, you might as well use it all day long. But how? FavorFlav tests the Air Fryer as the ultimate breakfast machine. Which healthy Air Fryer breakfast comes out on top?
If there’s one thing I always fail at, it’s exercising in the evening. I have the whole day to dread it, make other (more fun) plans, or convince myself that I really am better off lounging on the sofa. No, give me the morning. My brain simply isn’t awake enough yet to protest. By the time it does realise what’s happening, I’m already sweating and pounding a punching bag. And the feeling afterwards: so good.
Another plus of such a morning exercise ritual? Breakfast is the ultimate reward. Especially when it’s quick, easy and healthy, to reinforce that “I’m doing great” feeling. And what’s easy, quick and healthy? An Air Fryer! That’s why I tested four healthy breakfasts in the Philips Air Fryer XXL. Here’s my verdict:
Oatmeal cake
Time: 20 minutes
Ease: Easy peasy
Taste: Delicious! A sort of cross between warm apple pie and oatmeal porridge. In other words: the deliciousness of apple pie and the healthy (and slightly mushy) quality of oatmeal.
Equipment: You can use the Philips Air Fryer baking tin, but in this case we opted for a small cake tin because it’s easier to remove the cake from it, and you don’t need to grease the bottom—you can use baking paper more easily instead.
Fitgirl factor: Oatmeal, fruit and nuts. In short: mega #fitlife. You can also add other superfoods if you like. It’s filling too.
Verdict: It isn’t the quickest breakfast we tested, but that’s mainly due to weighing and chopping the ingredients beforehand. Preparing it is incredibly simple, and the Air Fryer does the work: unlike an oven, you don’t have to preheat it, so you definitely save time thanks to the Air Fryer. What’s more, you can easily make a double portion of the “batter”; the next day, you’ll only need to put it in the Air Fryer for 10 minutes, and you’ll have your cake twice as quickly.
Score: 8.5
Boiled egg with a bake-off roll
Time: 15 minutes
Ease: Meh, a lot of hassle for something that can be done more easily: simply in a saucepan.
Equipment: Egg piercer
Taste: The roll is baked perfectly, but the egg doesn’t work quite as well. At least not if you want a medium- or hard-boiled egg. A (very) soft-boiled egg works fine. On our first attempt (8 minutes), the egg is still very soft. On the second attempt (10 minutes), it’s still soft, but no longer runny. On the third attempt (12 minutes), it’s fairly well cooked on one side but still runny on the other. Attempt four (14 minutes) produces the same result: the egg cooks thoroughly on one side—the egg white is even lightly browned on one half—but the other side remains very soft. Perhaps turning it halfway through would have helped, but why would you do that when you can simply boil it in a saucepan in the same amount of time?
Fitgirl factor: By now, we can safely say that bread isn’t the devil, but simply incredibly delicious and a good source of fibre (if you choose wholegrain). Eggs are the ultimate fit food because they’re a perfect source of protein. In short: a very fitness-worthy meal.
Verdict: Baking bread rolls in the Air Fryer is great: no preheating time, and your roll is wonderfully warm and crispy in 10 minutes. If you like soft-boiled eggs, you can put your egg in alongside it and be done in 10 minutes. Prefer it a little firmer? Then I’d simply cook the egg in a saucepan. It’ll save you a lot of hassle.
Score: 6
Grilled grapefruit with honey
Time: 10 minutes
Ease: Anyone could do it
Equipment: Nothing extra, just the Air Fryer
Taste: Fresh, slightly bitter, slightly sweet. Perfect for a summer’s day. Normally find grapefruits too bitter? This is the solution. Grilling makes them milder in flavour, while the honey and cinnamon enhance that even further. Don’t like warm fruit? Just let it cool down.
Fitgirl factor: Grapefruit is packed with vitamin C and contains relatively few calories, so that’s great. Honey is basically just sugar, so it’s not exactly fitlife, but hey: you do need sugar too. Everything in moderation, right? Besides, this combination is simply delicious, and nothing is more important than the wellbeing of your taste buds, is it?
Verdict: Simple, quick, effective. Great! More suitable for a small appetite than as a complete breakfast.
Score: 7.5
Avocado with an egg inside
Time: max. 15 minutes
Ease: A little messy, but certainly not difficult
Equipment: Nothing extra, just the Air Fryer
Taste: TOP! The creamy avocado pairs perfectly with the egg, and the smoked paprika really makes it. Tip: you can also add some smoked salmon. Mmm.
Fitgirl factor: Apart from oatmeal, it doesn’t get much more fitgirl than avocado. Add some extra protein from the egg (which you bake without oil because: Air Fryer = winning!) and there you have it: a highly fitness-worthy, low-carb, keto-friendly breakfast. And very Instagrammable too.
Verdict: Honestly, it can be a little messy at first to get the egg precisely into the avocado cavity. But using larger avocados and smaller eggs can already solve that problem. Otherwise, it’s excellent: in 8 minutes (or 12 if you like well-done eggs), you’ll have a delicious, healthy and beautiful breakfast in front of you.
Score: 9
Final verdict
Making breakfast with the Philips Air Fryer XXL is great! Healthy, easy, quick, delicious and—also very nice—minimal washing-up. Now that’s what we like. The avocado with the egg inside is the editorial team’s favourite. Simple, healthy and delicious (also with a little smoked salmon or Parma ham) and, thanks to the Air Fryer, much quicker than the oven too (goodbye, preheating time!). Prefer a sweet breakfast? Then the oatmeal cake is an absolute winner. A few more steps because of the number of ingredients, but perfect for meal prepping, and hello: having cake for breakfast, who wouldn’t want that?
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